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Donnie Yen To Replace Jet Li In xXx: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE

I suppose if it were going to ever be that the likes of action stars Donnie Yen and Tony Jaa would be in a movie together after all these years, that time would ultimately be now. Leave it to actor Vin Diesel who manages the updates on his own Facebook page when it comes to productions he’s involved in, including the latest installment, xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage, in which he is both starring as well as producing with I Am Number Four‘s D.J. Caruso directing The actor posted the above photo on his Facebook fan page featuring himself along with the Ip Man trilogy star in the wake of Jet Li’s departure, reasons pending. The news comes less than a day following the announcement of Paramount Pictures’s addition to the film in its worldwide distribution with Diesel’s One Race Films along with Roth Kirschenbaum Films and Revolution Studios […]

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Plot Details Emerge Amid Paramount Deal To Release xXx: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE

It only took about eleven years but a third installment to the xXx franchise is now underway with plans to film scenes in Toronto, Canada and in the Dominican Republic. xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage is the official title amid news that following earlier speculation, Paramount Pictures is now boarding the film to distribute with Revolution Studios, Roth Kirschenbaum Films and Diesel’s One Race Films producing. D.J. Caruso is directing the script from scribe Chad St. John with revisions by F. Scott Frazier which THR says will reboot the franchise. As such, the trades are reporting new plot details with one version featuring specifics on Diesel and Thai action star Tony Jaa, reading as follows (UPDATE: Diesel posted a new casting photo on his Facebook page hours after this report, essentially correcting THR’s initial write-up which reads as follows): The film will see operative Xander Cage coming out of self-imposed exile […]

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Is Universal Casting Charlize Theron In A FAST 8 Villain Role?

Courtesy Of Paramount Pictures It’s been nearly thirteen years since director F. Gary Gray led Paramount Pictures’s The Italian Job to a bolstering box office hit, with the same duration standing for Gray’s partnering with actor Vin Diesel for crime pic, A Man Apart. For the latter, the circle has come full with both now readying Fast 8, the first of Universal Pictures’s final trilogy for the Fast And Furious franchise, and with just enough spectacle and scope to help leave a lasting impression another new beginning of the franchise. That said, with the previous installment, Furious Seven, already incapacitating its villain, played by Jason Statham, sources over at Deadline are now affirming that the reunion between Diesel and Gray won’t stop there. The report suggests that the studio is now looking to add a female villain in the form of actress Charlize Theron. Gray previously directed Theron on the […]

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The Final FAST Trilogy Gets A Release Schedule Through 2021

Actor Vin Diesel is currently in a “Xander state of mind” while filming xXx3 with a wicked cast. In the meantime, Diesel isn’t about to break consistency with “Toretto Tuesday” in lieu of all things to come with the remaining films of the Fast saga. Fast 8 is poised to film later this year rejoining Diesel with A Man Apart and Straight Outta Compton helmer F. Gary Gray and Neal Moritz producing for an April 14, 2017 release as per last year’s announcement. On that note, the actor went to Instagram late in the evening to share some big news from Universal Pictures in the following post, stamping official release dates for the last two films: A photo posted by Vin Diesel (@vindiesel) on Feb 2, 2016 at 10:51pm PST No plot details are available yet but several cast members from previous films are expected to return, including Tyrese Gibson, […]

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Vin Diesel Teases Badass Action From The Set Of xXx3!

Cropped via Facebook Production has just begun on director D.J. Caruso’s latest, xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage, and for the record, this doesn’t appear to be a boring affair either. The cast brings action star Vin Diesel back in the fray with more than a decade since the first film. The cast also includes Tony Jaa and Jet Li, and so you can possibly expect their talents to be utilized accordingly to some degree, and to much avail with an incredible stunt team that includes Jeremy Marinas and Jon Valera, credited respectively with films like Isaac Florentine’s Close Range and Aleksander Bach’s Hitman: Agent 47. So what does that mean, exactly? Well, Diesel himself kindly took to Instagram on location in Canada to tease us a little bit on that end with a distant shot of the team rehearsing on set (The video may have a small window before […]

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Is Ice Cube Joining xXx: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE?

Columbia Pictures Peep this. I just rambled about director Lee Tamahori’s 2005 sequel flub, xXx: State Of The Union, and you can click here to read it if it interests you. Low and behold however, filming is slated to begin next month for the third installation, xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage and the cast so far is looking pretty extraordinary. Actresses Deepika Padukone, Nina Dobrev and Ruby Rose, action stars Jet Li and UFC champion Conor McGregor and returning actor Samuel L. Jackson round out the current cast list with D.J. Caruso at the helm and Thai action star Tony Jaa as the latest confirmation to star. Now, word has it from a source privy to Moviehole that actor Ice Cube may be joining as well since starring in the sequel. The film was more than half bad in its delivery despite Cube’s own improving gravitas as an action […]

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EXCLUSIVE: Tony Jaa Officially Joins xXx: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE

Martial arts action star, actor Tony Jaa has had an amazing year so far. His latest venture into Hollywood with actor Vin Diesel in James Wan’s Furious Seven in April of 2015 became a billion dollar success, further setting the tone of his career growth next to his starring role alongside Dolph Lundgren in Skin Trade that same month. Of course, this leaves room for some amazing things for Jaa whose friendship and comradery with Furious Seven star Vin Diesel has been well documented in the past several years, most specifically on Diesel’s own Facebook page. It’s the kind of friendship that opens doors for future collaborations, and with this in mind, it’s understandable that Diesel probably wants more for his fellow Furious Seven co-star who played a small key role as a villain in the film. Evidently now, time will tell how those efforts play out now with Diesel […]

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Tony Jaa And Jet Li Up To Join Vin Diesel And Co. For xXx: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE

If there was any doubt on your end that the likes of action stars Tony Jaa and Jet Li would appear together in a movie with franchise muscle, actor Vin Diesel, you wouldn’t have been completely wrong. Li first broke ground from Hong Kong cinema with Lethal Weapon 4 in 1998 five years before Jaa would reach his own milestones with Ong Bak in 2003 and his Hollywood debut opposite Diesel in Furious Seven last Spring, and so seventeen years is a considerable amount of time to wait for news like this. As it stands though, there’s not much to gain from expecting Li to do any screenfighting as we’ve last heard a few years back about his hyperthyroidism which ultimately affects his heart. That said, it still bares worth keeping in mind whatever hopes there are that maybe Li is fit to fight on screen once more depending on […]

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Vin Diesel Announces A Fourth RIDDICK Film And TV Series, FURIA

Go back as far as 2013 in lieu of actor Vin Diesel‘s then-forthcoming sci-fi follow-up, Riddick, and you’ll read good and plenty about all that was hyped for the future of the franchise stemming from the 2000 film, Pitch Black. Director David Twohy has been with the franchise ever since then, even having written and directed the last two, with Riddick gracefully earning over $98 million dollars after The Chronicles Of Riddick flopped in 2004. Needless to say, things have been fortunate for Diesel and Twohy, with a franchise newly revamped and reinvigorated for greater prospects and as such, will now include a forth live-action Riddick film, and a TV series from a shingle under Diesel‘s One Race Productions banner. Diesel made the announcement on Instagram a few days ago: Last night Our company had a party to launch Our TV division. Very exciting. MERC CITY is a show that […]

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The FAST AND FURIOUS Franchise Is Getting Prequels And Spin-Offs

With more than a billion dollars adding to the $3.78 billion milestone Universal Pictures left off with this summer, clearly the studio isn’t running dry any time soon. As such, the studio is well underway in developing a slate of prequels and spin-offs following this year’s stellar Spring success of Furious Seven. In an exclusive report from Variety, actor and franchise producer Vin Diesel confirmed that more films are in the works for the franchise in a fashion similar to that of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and what Walt Disney Pictures is doing for Star Wars. “We’ve written out story lines for various characters,” said Diesel, who starred in the first film in 2001 prior to starring in and producing the last four. “We’ve been playing with it for a long time. It’s a very rich property and we’re committed to treating it.” The report comes more than a year […]

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F. Gary Gray Officially Behind The Wheel For FAST AND FURIOUS 8

You would be forgiven if you thought the hype machine had slowed down for upcoming Fast And Furious 8. The meandering search for a director finally brought results this week with mention of A Man Apart helmer F. Gary Gray as a likely candidate to helm the eighth installment following his global $800 million dollar success with the hip hop biopic, Straight Outta Compton. As of Thursday, Gray just made it official: Cant ask for better partners than Vin, Neal & Universal. Excited to bring u the next chapter of the #FastFamily saga pic.twitter.com/zRGre14kKO — F Gary Gray (@FGaryGray) October 8, 2015 The expectations are huge with the seventh, directed by James Wan, earning $1.5 billion dollars at the worldwide box office ahead of what is currently in store with a new trilogy. With Gray and franchise lead actor Vin Diesel back together on top of the returning roster including […]

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F. Gary Gray Likely To Rejoin Vin Diesel For FAST AND FURIOUS 8

In the hours since it was reported that the search for a dirppector for the eighth and next installment of the Fast And Furious saga wound down to four directors, franchise actor and producer Vin Diesel shared the following photo on his fan page, seated among a collage of pictures with director F. Gary Gray opposite him: Having stated several days ago he would announce a director on his fan page, it seems likely that Gray will be taking the helm from Furious 7 director James Wan to push the next installation forward. The film would evidently reunite Gray with Diesel and returning actor Jason Statham since directing both actors respectively roughly twelve years ago in A Man Apart and The Italian Job, as well as further lend a leg up for Universal in the wake of Gray‘s successful biopictoral hip-hop drama, Straight Outta Compton. Franchise regular Dwayne Johnson is […]

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FAST 8 Directors' Shortlist Nails Down To Four

The past several weeks have been pretty rickety with the development of the upcoming eighth installment of the Fast And Furious saga. Actor and series producer Vin Diesel‘s name has been one in the rumor mill for sometime now along with an array of contentious blurbs from around the web regarding troubles finding a director, issues which Diesel at one point made clear were non-existent with the congruent search for a director. Alas, the search continued and while Rob Cohen, director of the very first film of the franchise, The Fast And The Furious was up for the seat this go-around, it’s also been reported not meant to be. And with that, Variety now concludes the search is down to four directors: F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton), Adam Wingard (The Guest), Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me) and Will Eubank (The Signal). News also started picking up recently with […]

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The Battle For Humanity Begins In The New THE LAST WITCH HUNTER Trailer!

I have to say, director Brett Eisner’s latest action horror sci-fi, The Last Witch Hunter, is looking more and more epic with each morsel offered to us. Vin Diesel is back once more, bald head and all, and facing glorious evil in this one, and at the crossroads of time as well as an immortal lurking on Earth with the ability to slay witches. I wonder if he has any other hobbies with so much time to spare. SYNOPSIS: The modern world holds many secrets, but the most astounding secret of all is that witches still live amongst us; vicious supernatural creatures intent on unleashing the Black Death upon the world. Armies of witch hunters battled the unnatural enemy across the globe for centuries, including Kaulder, a valiant warrior who managed to slay the all-powerful Queen Witch, decimating her followers in the process. In the moments right before her death, […]

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Vin Diesel Transcends Through Time And Fearlessness In The New Trailer For THE LAST WITCH HUNTER!

It’s been a big year for actor Vin Diesel whose latest, Furious Seven, helped put a huge stamp of approval in numbers for Universal. In the next few months, he’ll be lending his services as an immortal warrior in director Breck Eisner’s upcoming Summit/Lionsgate release, The Last Witch Hunter, which now has a full new trailer out since the teaser premiered in May. SYNOPSIS: The modern world holds many secrets, but the most astounding secret of all is that witches still live amongst us; vicious supernatural creatures intent on unleashing the Black Death upon the world. Armies of witch hunters battled the unnatural enemy across the globe for centuries, including KAULDER, a valiant warrior who managed to slay the all-powerful QUEEN WITCH, decimating her followers in the process. In the moments right before her death, the QUEEN curses KAULDER with her own immortality, forever separating him from his beloved wife […]

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Universal Pictures Announces FURIOUS SEVEN Home Release Details!

Universal Studios premiered the latest Fast & Furious: Supercharged ride today, headlined by it’s star-studded cast. Alas, today was obviously the best day for Universal Pictures to announce the forthcoming extended edition of Furious Seven, directed James Wan. The eighth installment is still developing for its expansion to New York City and elsewhere and a director is still being sought after as far as anyone knows; I’m sure fans are hoping for Justin Lin to return. We’ll see. The unstoppable global franchise built on speed delivers its best, biggest and boldest film yet as Furious 7 blasts onto Blu-ray™, DVD and On Demand on September 15, 2015 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Grossing over $1.5 billion dollars worldwide at the box office, Furious 7 tears up the screen with more gravity-defying stunts, adrenaline-fueled fight scenes and pulse-pounding action than ever before. The Blu-ray™ features the all new extended edition with […]

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Catch The New Teaser And Poster For THE LAST WITCH HUNTER!

With all of the hype surrounding the Fast And Furious franchise amid its global success, it’s easy to forget that actor Vin Diesel is, all for intents and purposes, an actor with his hands in other various properties. Such is the case with his latest role as an immortal witch hunter battling his way through New York City’s demonic throes in the new thriller, The Last Witch Hunter. Suffice it to say that his screen personas in Dom Torretto, Riddick and even xXx aren’t going away anytime soon as long as Diesel‘s career remains prominent, which isn’t really that all hard any more. Nonetheless, it’s great to see him pivot towards something different, and I can’t imagine anyone by-and-large saying no to watching Diesel battle cinematic evil in all its forms. Alas, the good and kind folks at MTV spent their Wednesday rolling out the fresh new poster and a […]

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FURIOUS 8 Gets A Release Date. You Read That Correctly.

With events at this year’s CinemaCon underway, it’s been announced that Universal Pictures has officially planted a flag for Furious 8 on April 14, 2017. The recent seventh installment, Furious Seven, became a billion-dollar box office smash hit with domestic and global acclaim, continuing the fifteen-year long saga built on speed, in addition to a diverse cast and a sprawling narrative built on cars, thrilling action, and the biggest most thematically prevalent element within the film series, family. The eighth installment will no doubt continue its story without one of its leads, late actor Paul Walker whose primary character, Brian O’Connor, was given a final send-off in Furious Seven under director James Wan, completed with real footage with Walker and footage rendered with his image through digital hybrid performances with the help of doubles, including brothers Caleb and Cody Walker. Previous reports have speculated as to whether or not Justin […]

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Well, This Was Pretty Cool!

“@NStarszak: If you had a too pick a new villain, who would you cast??? @creepypuppet #AskFurious7” Dame Helen Mirren 🙂 — James Wan (@creepypuppet) April 1, 2015 Provided that Furious 7 director James Wan gets to sit in for the eighth film in the new trilogy, he and franchise star, actor Vin Diesel may get their wish, and I’m saying it: Either I called it by dumb luck, or someone very famous is reading my blog. Furious 7 had its stellar premiere in Hollywood this week we’re just hours away from the film’s opening across the U.S. on Friday. In lieu of all the electricity for the new movie, Furious 8 is already making headlines with Diesel lending mentions of possible story hints located anywhere between China and New York City, and nothing is being made publicly official just yet even as the actor has been plotting a course for […]

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Dame Helen Mirren Wants In As A 'Fast And Furious' Villainess, And I Say Make It Happen!

I’ve pretty much spent the past two years I’ve been blogging as Film Combat Syndicate, in part, musing about the Fast And Furious franchise. No, my fixation wasn’t immediate upon the first film in 2002 – it only became so in the months leading up to this article I wrote in 2013, and to say the least, I stand by my fandom. That said, I love just how much diversity has gone into this cast and the immense scope this story has taken, from the streets of L.A. and Miami to Tokyo, Mexico, Rio and London, and a variety of talented actors and surprising new faces adding to the mix. Who would have thought that the likes of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Djimon Hounsou, or even Gina Carano or Jason-frickin-Statham would find their way into the franchise. It’s unbelievable, but the potential here is quite obvious even as we embark […]

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